OPERA REVIEW;A Revolutionary And Noble Poet, Via Pavarotti

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An opera company does not decide to mount a major new production of Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chenier" and then search for a tenor to sing the title role. If any opera is a star vehicle, it is this verismo melodrama of the French Revolution, first performed 100 years ago last month. Giordano's hero bears scant resemblance to the historic Chenier, a high-born Parisian poet who championed the causes of the downtrodden but denounced their violent excesses and was executed on trumped-up charges of treason in 1794. No matter. In the opera house, this dashing role has provided some glamour tenors of the past -- Mario Del Monaco, Franco Corelli -- with a chance to exult in virile lyricism and dramatic impetuosity.

So the announcement that Luciano Pavarotti, at 60, was going to undertake his first staged Chenier in a new Metropolitan Opera production was understandably greeted with misgivings. The trepidation increased this fall when the tenor struggled through a string of Met performances as Tonio in "La Fille du Regiment," a bel canto role he had once owned.

But on Saturday night when this production was unveiled, Mr. Pavarotti gave a vocally formidable performance. There were some dry patches in his legato, but for the most part his voice was more burnished, warm and fresh than it has sounded in several seasons. Certain aspects of this role play to his strengths. Chenier is given to grandiloquent outpourings, as in the scene-stealing Act I aria, "Un di all'azzurro spazio," in which the poet takes seriously the coquettish challenge of Maddalena, the daughter of an imperious countess, to improvise a poem about love. Mr. Pavarotti's textually incisive way with Italian has been a hallmark of his singing. His Chenier truly understood the beauty and power of language. Vocally, he may no longer be the king of the high C's. But he dashed off some kingly high B flats, and capped the final duet with a high B that was at least princely.

Obviously, at this stage Mr. Pavarotti does not cut the figure of a 27-year-old poet with revolutionary sympathies. And the problem is more than his heft, it's his health; he has been struggling in recent years with knee and hip injuries. But here he was helped by the direction of Nicolas Joel, in his debut production. Mr. Joel made a virtue of necessity, for example, keeping Mr. Pavarotti seated at a table in the Cafe Hottot for much of Act II. The sword fight between Chenier and Gerard, the indignant servant who becomes a leader of the Revolution, was wisely enacted in a darkened corner of the stage and kept short: two quick thrusts of Chenier's sword and Gerard was on his back, wounded.

The libretto by Luigi Illica (best known as the long-suffering partner of Puccini) is mostly drained of politics. The combatants are driven by generic class hatreds. It would be interesting to see a production that plumbed the opera for ambiguity, that showed both sides as racked with paranoia. Mr. Joel and his frequent collaborator, the set and costume designer Hubert Monloup, also making his Met debut, do not really try. We are meant to see the preening aristocrats with their exaggerated wigs through the eyes of Gerard. In the Act I ballroom scene at the countess's chateau, the set is evocative of the work of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, one of Mr. Joel's mentors. An enormous mirrored wall framed with gilded wood teeters in the background, a heavy-handed symbol of the collapsing power of the aristocracy. The scenes in the revolutionary tribunal courtroom and the St.-Lazare prison are cold with gray stone monumentality. Yet Duane Schuler's bright white lighting gives them a striking eeriness.

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As Maddalena, who is transformed by love for Chenier, Aprile Millo gave one of her best performances in recent seasons. Her soprano now has a somewhat hard-edged tone, and the sustained notes can be tremulous. But there was nobility in her phrasing, and affecting vulnerability in her conception. The audience cheered Juan Pons's Gerard lustily, but I found his singing rather bellowy. There were solid performances from Wendy White as the servant Bersi, John Del Carlo as Mathieu, Michel Senechal as the lugubrious spy Incredibile and the ageless Rosalind Elias as the countess.

James Levine conducted this score as if it were not just a savvy, melodically sweeping musical drama but an important composition. Matters of orchestral balance, clarity and coloring were painstakingly attended to. Mr. Pavarotti could not have had better support for his risky venture.

ANDREA CHENIER Opera by Umberto Giordano; conductor, James Levine; production by Nicolas Joel; sets and costumes by Hubert Monloup; lighting by Duane Schuler. At the Metropolitan Opera.

A version of this review appears in print on April 8, 1996, on Page C00009 of the National edition with the headline: OPERA REVIEW;A Revolutionary And Noble Poet, Via Pavarotti. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe